Mirai Cardcaptor Sakura: Episode 1
by Goggle-Kid
Summary: Six years after CCS began, our story begins. An ancient evil awakens, bringing with her malevolent intent towards the citizens of Tomoeda, Sakura in particular. Meanwhile Tomoyo is menaced by a more human threat. Feedback please.


Mirai Cardcaptor Sakura

By

Goggle-kid

karmacide@hotmail.com

Episode 1: The Future's in The Cards? Sakura and Tomoyo's Nightmarish Day

[Author's notes: Cardcaptor Sakura is property of CLAMP, considering that they got their start doing Saint Seya yaoi-Doujin, they probably won't mind. Don't sue me I have no money. Sakura, Tomoyo, Li, Kero, etc are all property of CLAMP. Kazou and Cong Feng are my own creations. For the record Cong Feng pronounced "Tsong" (with a long O) "Fung." Feel free to use one my own creations in a fic, unless it's Tomoyo/Eriol 'shipper. ;P Just give me a little bit of credit.]

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

It was 6:30 am when Sakura Kinomoto woke up slowly yawning, rubbing her deep brown eyes. The adolescent girl, who unknown to most of the world was one of the most powerful sorceresses to walk the earth, slowly stepped out of bed, a long flowing nightshirt covering up most of her body. With a heavy yawn put on a pair of teddy-bear shaped slippers before slowly walking over to a nearby calendar mounted on the wall. Picking up a black felt pin she marked off a day before suddenly being introduced by a high-pitched voice.

"Three more days until the big day Sakura-Chan!" A yellow fluffy plush-toy like creature said.

"Hai. [OK] Kero" Sakura said, nodding as she reach for a hair comb.

"Your Sweet Sixteen, Sakura-Chan... Six years since we met... almost five, no four years since you captured and transformed the last card. Seams like a cause for a little tiny celebration if you ask me." Kero said.

"Yes, Rika, Naoko, and Chiharu are going to sleep over, and Onii-chan and Yukito are dropping from college too... say you're just trying to get a piece of cake out of this deal..." Sakura said winking.

"Who me?..." Kerobros, the guardian beast of the cards replied.

"Some people never change..." The young woman said rolling her eyes before taking a long pause, sighing for breath before staring at a small picture.

"Ah, a postcard from your first boyfriend..." Kero said with a smile. "Loathe be it for me to admit, but for a brat, he actually turned out ok..."

The small beast paused before asking in a somewhat serious tone. 

"Don't tell me you're still not over him yet?"

Sakura paused for a moment.

"It's been years Kero-chan. It's not like I had a choice but to movie on. Not that I've had too many boyfriends since then." Sakura said frowning a bit.

"What about the guy from the basketball team?" Kero said, tossing a rolled piece of scarp paper high into the air, the wad landing into a near by trash can with perfect swoosh.

"We never even dated, he just wanted to hang out so he could hit on Tomoyo..." Sakura said, giggling slightly nervously, before shaking her head. As if on cue Kero tossed another wadded up ball of paper up into the air, this time hitting the rim of the can, only to bounce outside of it.

"Denied!" Kero yelled... imagining a buzzer going off, before replying. "Well you did go on a couple of dates with Yamazaki."

"Those were pretend dates... we were trying to make Chiharu jealous. It's a long story..." Sakura said before letting out a guilty sigh. "I can't believe he talked me into that scheme."

"Yamazaki could sell an artificial snow maker to Eskimos." Kero said rolling his eyes, pondering. 

"Ok, what about that American exchange student that was in for a few months last spring? Heh?" He winked.

"Heh, ok... I guess I have met a few nice guys." Sakura said with a smile. "But I still miss Li... as a friend, more than a lover I suppose. It's impossible for anyone to hang onto a crush for this long." Kero nodded with agreement.

Meanwhile Across Town

"Yeeeeeeeeeeesss!" Sakura's best friend exclaimed as she removed a disk from her computer's DVD-Rom drive. The normally fair-skinned girl looking a bit more pale than usual. "Finally I have burned every adventure of Cardcaptor Sakura onto DVD, complete with my very own commentary tracks!" Tomoyo Daidouji let out a jubilant squeal despite being exhausted by the hours she spent on her project, a starry look in her eye. "Just in time for her sixteenth birthday..." 

One Hour Later, Approximately 2854 Kilometers Away from Japan (Hong Kong)

Syaoran Li quickly rose from his bed... the Chinese boy's face dripping covered with sweat, shivering in his robes. He couldn't recall what exactly happened but... her knew he felt something was deathly wrong, but what?...

Meanwhile 5175 nautical miles from Japan (A small town in England, on the outskirts of London)

Eriol Hiiragizawa sat alone meditating, in a dark room... It was quite late, as the adolescent mage sat still, pondering as in a deep state of thought. Clad in his usual black robes the darkness had almost seemed to completely envelop he magician, as he stared off into space. Finally a voice spoke up breaking the silence.

"So... you felt it too Eriol?" A small black furred creature not unlike Kero spoke up.

"Yes, Suppi." Eriol said taking a long pause. "She has awakened.... Cong Feng."

"This is serious then..." Suppi added.

"Sakura will overcome this... she must." Eriol said in a somewhat melancholy manner his voice become suspiciously darker more ominous.

Suppi nodded as the silence was suddenly interrupted by a sudden high pitched squeal, a nearby door opening, light illuminating the room, as lovely brown haired girl walked inside, wearing a blouse and miniskirt.

"Erioooool-kun! Quick! I need to know... is this outfit making my but look big?" Nakuru asked.

Back at Tomoeda High School

"I can't believe our team is going to the national cheerleading tournament Sakura-Chan." Tomoyo said with a starry-eyed look in her eyes, placing her palm against her cheek, sighing blissfully.

Sakura paused awkwardly, a drop of sweat slowly beading down her forehead. She paused deeply in thought... "Tomoyo's always been like this," Sakura thought to herself... "But I'm starting to worry..." Sakura paused. Her train of thought was suddenly wrecked as she felt a sudden chill running down her spine, letting out a worried gasp.

"Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked curiously, seaming a bit nervous. 

"I sense something is... wrong Tomoyo, but I'm not sure what..." Sakura replied.

As if on cue a large crashing sound could be heard in the distance. Along with a familiar scream.

"YAMAZAKI-KUN!" Chiharu screamed.

At the young age of 16, Yamaki Takashi was dead. Well at least he certainly felt that way, after being flung halfway across the width of the school's hallway, crashing into a nearby locker with a sickening thud.

Yamazaki's tormentor was a 6'5 monster of a adolescent that had recently become known to the students of Tomoeda as simply Kazou. The humongous student was a terrifying image, built like an NFL linebacker with bleached blond hair and a small scar under his right eye. The monster gave Yamazaki a quick kick to the ribs, before heisting him up in his hands, one of which was missing a.

There had been rumors that Kazou was somehow affiliated with the Yakuza, but most of the students and staff had dismissed it as gossip. Others believed that Kazou actually cut his own finger off to look more like a gangster. Still others say he had lost it in a fight with a stray dog. Regardless of what they believed, there was a general consensus that he was a borderline psychotic.

No one had exactly known how this dangerous individual had become in enrolled in Tomoeda but the story was he was bumped from school, to school, whenever he got in trouble. For some reason no one wanted to outright expel him.

"Because of your Bullshit... It looks like I'll be repeating international history... again..." Kazou said with an enraged grimace. "It looks like I'll be taking that grade out of your hide..."

Yamazaki Takashi knew precisely what had happened. For years he had been known to tell absurd, yet oddly believable fibs to his friends, periodically outright fooling them. His on-again/off-again girlfriend Chiharu was of course the only one he could never fool. Kazou must have somehow overheard one of these fibs and fell for it right before his history final. The final must have been an essay test, as either a multiple choice or true or false format one would have exposed Kazou's nonsense for... well just that.

Yamazaki would have found this situation infinitely amusing if only wasn't about to be bludgeoned into oblivion. The smaller teen winced in fear as Kazou's fist reared back. It had seamed that the greatest fibber Japan had ever known had told his last tale. And then it happened...

KKKKKKRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAKKK!!!!

It happened all too quickly for Yamazaki to realize what happened, as Kazou dropped like a sack of bricks. Sakura had grabbed a hold of the nearest available object from her locker, which had conveniently enough been her cheerleading baton and charged at the thuggish brute while twirling her baton in an all too familiar manner before jumping in the air, over Yamazaki and smashing the metal rod in Kazou's face. That was pretty much everyone saw. What the most trained eye in class, along with her camera saw were the two quick strikes to the giant's ribs before she jumped, followed by two more to his legs, just beside the knee-cap just before she leaped to make the final blow. Kazou never saw what hit him, as his nose was smashed... he fell strait back, losing his grip on Yamazaki as he hit the ground with a thud.

Sakura just stared forward blankly... bat-batting her eyes in shock at her now bloodied baton.

"Did... Did... I j-just?... I... I..."

Looking horrified, Sakura was on the verge of tears as she dropped the baton. For those few seconds she felt like the strangest, loneliest girl in the world as she noticed a number of her fellow classmates looked genuinely frightened with what just happened. She was brought back to her hearing a familiar voice.... coughing.

"Th-thank you.... Sakura-Chan... I... uh... I think..." Yamazaki's statement of gratitude was suddenly cut short as Chiharu warped her arms around him.

"Yamazaki-kun!" The pig-tailed girl yelled... being suddenly caught off guard as Yamazaki suddenly yelled out in pain.

"I think I broke a rib... or three." Yamazaki uttered with a grunt.

Sakura winced, shuddering at the thought of what might have happened if she didn't stop this mugging earlier than it did. Still pondering deep in thought... As a familiar voice could be heard gushing.

"Bravo Sakura-chan! You were amazing, like something out an Michelle Yeoh movie..." Tomoyo gushed... her face one again taking on an all too familiar starry-eyed look prompting Sakura, to pause nervously. "That was so heroic, I'm just so glad I caught this on camera... "

"Um... Tomoyo-Chan?" Sakura asked nervously, pointing in the direction of her friend.

"I mean you took down that huge guy all buy yourself and..." The raven and lavender-haired girl continued to ramble on.

"Um... Tomoyo..." Sakura remained deathly still continuing to point in Tomoyo's general direction, almost praying the girl would just turn around already.

"I mean you just swung and... WHAM..." Tomoyo suddenly turned around, her voice suddenly taking on a deathly nervous look. "Oh... Good... Morning... Principal Terreda..." Tomoyo uttered in her lowest most defeated voice.

It had been a only a small handful of months since Yoshiyuki Terreda had been promoted to Vince Principal of Tomoeda high school. Like many young adults placed in such a position, Terreda had a number of on-the-job anxieties and fears when he went into the position. He knew that there were some inevitable days that he was absolutely going to dread. The day he would have to deal out his first expulsion to a student. The day he would first have to deal with an anorexic or suicidal. The day he would learn of the untimely death of a student.

These were all very real possibilities he would have to deal with and he had heard horror stories of even worse scenarios. Particularly one of scandal in a nearby district in which a teacher had been expelled for proposing to a 10-year-old student. The story kind of reminded him of a young student that had a rather strong crush on him, that he would sometimes humor.

That said, he would never imagine the day when Sakura Kinomoto, a student with a perfect record would be caught fighting with a boy twice her size... breaking the his nose, and giving the young man a concussion to boot. With his hands tied, most victims too afraid to step forward and a growing number of horror stories about Kazou's rampages circulating around the school board Terreda had secretly wished someone would give the thug a taste of his own medicine, but the little Sakura he knew from the 5th and 6th grades?

The ensuing conversation went as well as either party had anticipated, with what felt like hours of awkward silence, then finally Mr. Terreda spoke up.

"Miss Kinomoto, I am sure that as soon as we review the tape we confiscated from Tomoyo, and we know the full extent of Yamazaki's injuries that you will be vindicated, however..." There was that word Sakura was dreading hearing... she knew whenever a school official used it in a serious conversation you were in big trouble.

"However the school board recently voted to take a tougher policy on fighting, the minimal punishment of which is three days of detention, along with a weeklong suspension from any extracurricular activities." Terreda said showing a tinge of regret.

"But-but the cheerleading competition..." Sakura said, gasping.

"I know Sakura-chan... it's wrong, but I fear that some people on the school board are going to push for a stricter penalty." The Vice-Principal said with a deep sigh. "You see Kazou's grandfather is a famous politician, one who has a lot of influence on our school's funding... If this tape gets out to the local media..."

Sakura took this news with a deep whimper as she slumped back into her chair as Mr. Terreda continued speaking. She knew any chance she might have had in getting off of this easy was dashed, as was her plans of leading the school's cheer leading squad to the finals. For the next few minutes everything Yoshiyuki Terreda said seamed to fly over the saddened girl's head until one sentence suddenly jolted her back to reality.

"You do realize that I'm going to have to call your parents..." Terreda said.

Sakura winced, as she hated the thought of the disappointed look on her father's face when she got home. She would almost rather face the Emptiness card again rather than see that look. She swallowed nervously as Mr. Terreda picked up the phone.

"Welcome to the Twilight Zone

Welcome to the famous Disco Night

C'mon Baby Let it Come and go

C'mon Baby Let Me Get Once for Right..."

As the fast-paced disco music blared on the television's speaker system, Kero happily bounced up and down on the colored arrows. How lucky he was that Sakura had managed to track down a miniature hand-held dance-pad that was just his size. A huge grin appearing on the teddy bear-like creature's face.

"Finally I'll get that perfect score on trick mode..." Kero said grimacing as he stomped his tiny feat on the pad at an accelerated pace before suddenly being interrupted by the all too familiar chime of a telephone ringing. Startled, the little yellow guardian beast flailed his arms around desperately attempting to maintain balance before falling face first off of the pad. He angrily fluttered over to the nearby telephone and picked it up off of the receiver.

"I've had it up to hear with you stupid telemarketers ruining my games!" Kero yelled... furiously, before pausing... a large bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"This is the Kinomoto residence... right?" Vice Principal Terreda asked. "There's been an incident at school."

Kero paused... absolutely frozen in terror, somewhat thankful that Sakura's father Fujitaka was at a lecture. "Yes... I'll get him." the yellow creature said before pausing and speaking in an absolutely pathetic impression of Sakura's father. "Sorry about that Terreda-Sensei, my cousin from Osaka is visiting. Great guy really... now what is the problem?"

"Ah... well there was an altercation between her and another student." Terreda said politely. "She knocked out a boy by the name of Kazou out and..." 

"Kazou?" Kero asked... almost forgetting to hide his voice.

"Yes, the school nurse believes he has a broken nose and a concussion." Terreda explained.

"And you're saying Sakura did this... To Kazou?" Kero asked suspiciously, still in his best (not that that's saying anything) Fujitaka impression.

"Yes..." Terreda replied.

"You're saying my daughter did this to the boy who beat up the head of the school's football team... and the American rules football team." Kero asked... sounding skeptically.

"Yes... no... well there's been some rumors going around school about the guy but nothing concrete has been..." Terreda said nervously.

"What about the time he tossed that guy through a plate glass window?" Kero asked sounding suspicious.

"Well there was an incident somewhat of like that but no one really stepped forward and..." Terreda said sounding increasingly nervous. He knew Fujitaka Kinomoto was a dedicated father, but he had no idea that he would be raked across hot coals like this. 

"And despite all of these incidents that everyone has talked this kid but can't confirm... you just expect me to believe that my Sakura-Chan, who probably weighs a third of what this guy does injured this monster that the whole school is afraid of?" Kero said, a part of him very much enjoying this little facade.

Terreda paused... as Sakura continued to sink into her seat, looking as if she was going to faint. Her hearing was sharp enough to discern exactly whom Mr. Terreda was speaking to. She knew as if she wasn't in enough trouble already, Kero was probably not going to help.

"And my I just say, that in addition to finding your accusations ludicrous, I demand to see some form of evidence tying my daughter to this." Kero said, his arms crossed confidently.

"This is almost too easy. I would probably make a good parent." The yellow ball of fluff thought to himself.

"Actually..." Mr. Terrada said with a long pause... "We confiscated a video of the whole incident from her classmate Tomoyo Daidouji."

"W-what?!" Kero exclaimed... dropping the receiver onto the desk, face-faulting before slowly crawling back to the phone. "I understand..." He sighed as he realized that Fujitaka might have a harder time job with this whole parenting thing than he thought.

Sakura continued to sink back into seat as the impromptu principal/Clow beast conference went on for what seamed like days, a sad eye trailing over the minutes, eventually hours ticking on nearby clock. Her sulking finally ended as Mr. Terreda spoke up.

"Sakura... your father brought up some good points, and I think I just might be able convince the school board to give you a lighter punishment when I meet with them later today, however..."

There was that that word Sakura was dreading again... "However."

"As is standard procedure in these things, both you and Kazou are being sent home to prevent the risk of any further altercations." Terreda finished.

"Hai Sensei." Sakura said with a deeply depressed sigh as she slowly walked outside of the office down the hallway to where her locker room was located. She just knew she would inevitably get in trouble, as her adventures with the cards had at some points caused the destruction of a fair deal of property at her old school. She just never figured she would get in trouble for an incident that didn't involve magic in anyway. Furthermore she couldn't figure out how what she did was wrong. What was she supposed to do? Sit back and watching this lunatic bludgeon Yamazaki to death? As she made her way to the locker, she mustered up enough energy to give Tomoyo a smile, somewhat comforted that her longtime friend was dutifully waiting for her.

"Are you alright... Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked curiously.... not fooled in the least bit by Sakura's feigned attempts at hiding her depression and frustration.

"I'm fine Tomoyo-chan... I've just been sent home for the day." Sakura said continuing her best effort to smile.

Tomoyo just paused, dead silent as she heard those words. Stunned before speaking up momentarily. "What really happened Sakura-Chan?"

"He said he'll talk to the school board and do what he can but... they might not let me attend the cheerleading tournament." Sakura said... unable to hold up her false smile. "And I could be suspended..."

Tomoyo paused, her already weary looking face looking white as a sheet. "But... but... how why?..."

Sakura paused, a somewhat serious look on her face. "Mr. Terreda doesn't like it either but... he says there's very little he can do about it, not with there being a video tape of me beating up a Senator's Grandson."

Tomoyo whimpered, looking absolutely crushed, tears flowing from her eyes, as she abruptly turned and started walking, very quickly down the hallways.

"Tomoyo-Chan... Please... It-it-it's not your fault... Tomoyo-Chan." Sakura said... a few tears of her own rolling from her eyes as she saw the heading down the hallway. Sakura remained deathly still, as she let out a deep sigh... Frowning as she felt something was deeply wrong, something deep down in her stomach feeling sick... Shivering.

Something was wrong... very wrong indeed.

As a dejected Sakura left Tomoeda high a solitary figure sat perched on the roof school looking down on her. An adolescent Chinese woman with long silvery hair, braided into three impossibly long ponytails... a never-ending series of silver beads running among that twisted mane. She wore a form fitting green dress. She grinned wickedly through her black-painted lips through her gray-hued eyes.

Sakura wasn't sure but... she knew deep in her heart something was very wrong. She shivered again as she put on her roller blades, and started heading home. She couldn't help but swear that someone was watching her. She could also swear that she heard laughter.

Meanwhile across the street another pair of eyes, the brown enraged eyes of a very large, and angry senior student with bleached blond hair. Kazou slowly twirled around a switchblade knife before pausing... dropping his knife as his vision suddenly grew blurry, the brute clutching his head. "Th-there's. there's gotta to be a better way." the Thug muttered to himself as he lowered to his knees.

Fifteen minutes later Sakura had finally arrived home, heading up to her room before slumping into bed with a guilty sigh. Wrapping a blanket around her she sighed wishing she could just wake up and have this day prove to be a bad dream.

"So... I uh... guess that could have gone better..." A familiar voice said as the sound of tiny wings fluttering could be heard.

"Actually... you didn't do that bad Kero." Sakura said continuing to sulk. "That isn't to say I'm not upset with you but... but..." 

"But?..." Kero asked nervously.

"I'm worried about Tomoyo." Sakura said pouting, causing the little yellow creature to almost face fault. 

"Tomoyo?..." Kero asked a bit startled. "So they confiscated her camera along with the tape too?"

"No... after Mr. Terreda let me go, I said I'm in so much trouble was because they had everything on tape and... now she thinks I'm blaming her. She probably hates me." Sakura said, pouting.

"Tomoyo would never hate you." Kero replied, the yellow creature flipping onto his back, laying down while hovering in midair. "She's crazy about you..."

"Maybe that's the problem..." Sakura said frowning.

"Oro? [Huh?]" Kero uttered.

"It's hard to explain Kero-chan, She's the closest friend I've ever had but..." Sakura paused.

"But..." Kero asked.

"She thinks I'm perfect." Sakura replied with a sulk. "Like a goddess..."

"Is that a bad thing?" Kero asks.

"It makes me feel... bad, but... the problem is... Tomoyo sometimes acts as if I'm above her or something."

"That is bad...." Kero said, turning again in mid-air before raising his paw to his chin in a thinker-like position.

"It gets worse. She seams to think that since I'm perfect, if she isn't perfect... she's not worthy of me. Last spring when I found a couple of bad stitches in that blue dress she made for the spring festival she looked so... at grief with guilt, it just crushed me." Sakura said on the verge of tears. "And now she thinks that it's her fault I'm in trouble, and might not make the cheerleading tournament... it must be killing her."

"Sakura.... you look like you need some rest. I'm sure Tomoyo will be alright, she just needs awhile to calm down." Kero said. "You two just need to talk after things have calmed down in awhile."

Sakura gave a deep sigh before turning over stretching. "Hai..." She remained silent, staring at the ceiling for a moment, yawning before silently falling asleep.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes hours later after a prolonged nap. Slowly rubbing her eyes the auburn-haired girl slowly sat up, checking her alarm clock, hoping it was still morning and that this was just a bad dream. Alas the green numbers on the digital clock-radio didn't lie. It was now a quarter till three PM. She let out a deep depressed sigh. As she slowly got out of her bed she paused noticing Kero sitting on the floor, holding a Gameboy.

"Feeling better sleeping beauty?" Kero asked curiously.

"I think I have a slight headache but... otherwise, I'm fine I guess. Still a little worried by Tomoyo though... but there's one thing I don't understand..." Sakura paused as if deep in thought.

"What?" Kero asked before pausing looking down at his game.... "Aaaaah! They shut down the Cellfighter and both Dendoh and Knight Ogre need their batteries changed... Grrr..."

"Kero..." Sakura spoke up taking a slightly annoyed voice causing the yellow ball of fluff paused in mid-game and a wipe a nervous drop of sweat from his brow. "What I was wondering was... how I did it? I'm not completely sure what came over me when I decided to hit the guy but... how did I knock him out?"

"Well Sakura-Chan... I knew this day would come, you see when you reach a certain age, your body begins changing and..." Kero began to lecture before being suddenly interrupted.

"Kero-Chan... I think I already got this speech from Dad...and the health-education teacher." Sakura said, interrupting and a bit flustered.

"Not those kind of changes..." Kero said, pausing a little embarrassed himself. "What I was meaning to say is that as a sorceress, as your magic grows stronger... your body begins to change physically, you're becoming stronger, more agile, and have better reflexes. Kind of like Yukito was at your age."

"Wow... I thought the time single handedly beat the basketball team was because we were 0-12 that year." Sakura pondered as she retrieved and began changing into a short black skirt from her dresser.

"Like Yukito, you're capable of doing anything if you put your mind to it. If you wanted you could be captain of both the football team and the American football team." Kero said, politely turning his head and body while Sakura changed clothes.

"If I had time... this may be a quiet town but, I have a lot of responsibilities." Sakura said as she raised her arms and slowly pulled on a black hooded sweatshirt, with the white and red logo of the metal band 'Dir En Grey' on the front. Tugging it down to her waist level, Sakura then pulled the hood down to her shoulders before putting on a baseball cap with the insignia of the band "Bad Luck" etched on it. She quickly tugged it around backwards, a tuff of her hair sticking out just above the adjuster.

"How do I look Kero-Chan?" Sakura asked as she quickly turned around.

"Well... uh..." The Clow Beast paused awkwardly. "You know how I feel about wearing all black like that."

"Now you're really starting to sound like just like my father." Kero said, smiling a bit patting her friend on the head.

"Thanks..." Kero replied smiling before pausing once again. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing..." Sakura said, giggling a bit, as her portable phone suddenly began ringing yet again. Noticing Kero was looking at Sakura quickly flashed a look as if to say 'Don't even think about it.'

"Kinomoto residence..." Sakura asked curiously before pausing nervously, her heart pounding almost terrified as she heard who was on the other line.

"Yes father..." She said... the ensuing conversation was every bit as slow and awkward as the one was in Mr. Terreda's office. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours and yet... everything seamed to blur together. It was almost like a bad dream with Sakura being unable to do anything but nod and agree.

Five minutes later Sakura hung up the phone letting out a deep sigh of relief mixed with guilt. She couldn't believe her father had let her off so easy.

"So what did he say Sakura?" Kero asked nervously, wondering just what how much trouble his friend might be.

"Well the good news is, he thinks that since he the school might be overzealous in punishing me... and since I kind of saved Yamazaki. I'm not going to face any punishment beyond what the school board chooses." Sakura said smiling, weekly. Kero quickly flew up to her side, patting her on the shoulder.

"It looks like you dodged the bullet there Sakura." Kero said, smiling broadly.

"He also said that our "Cousin from Osaka" is grounded for two weeks." Sakura responded.

Kero paused in mid-air, his jaw dropping... the lion-like creature's mouth agape in horror as if the whole world had slowed down like the end of a Joel Silver movie. "Noooooooo..." He gasped watching in shock as Sakura scooped up the Gameboy and placed it into her sweatshirt's pocket.

"Relax Kero, I'm sure I'll be able to get him to lower it to one week when we talk about it over diner." Sakura said smiling warmly trying to cheer up the critter.

"One week..." Kero said sulking, trying to fight off any tears.

"Kero I knew you meant well... but pretending to be someone your not on the phone like that is wrong, just calm down." Sakura said very gently hugging her tiny friend. Kero nodded sighing. "Now just sit still, I need to talk to Tomoyo."

Pressing the speed dial button on her cellular phone before Sakura calmly waited as the phone rang on the other end, she winced... tensing up a bit as she heard a somewhat upset voice on the other end. Not the one of Tomoyo, but of her mother... Sonomi.

"Yes Ms. Daidouji... " She paused listening. "No I haven't seen Tomoyo since I..." Sakura paused yet again. "You mean..." Sakura shivered almost horrified. "Don't worry, I think I know where she went. I'm so sorry... yes I think I can help. Good bye."

Sakura winced as the conversation ended, abruptly hanging up the phone and placing the former Clow book and key into her pocket. "This is worse than I thought Kero-chan... Tomoyo didn't go home after school. I'm so worried."

Kero momentarily forgot his predicament and chirped up. "You know Tomoyo better than anyone else. You'll find her."

Sakura nodded, smiling somewhat confidently trying to desperately to hide just how worried she really was. "I have a pretty good hunch where she is."

Meanwhile Across Town...

Tomoyo Daidouji set deathly still on the bench outside of the small playground affectionately known among her childhood friends as "Penguin Park." It's a common cliche, but she honestly felt like the loneliest person on earth.

"I... I... thought I was the only person who really understood he. Aside from Li... Maybe because I'm a little... different from the other girls" Tomoyo thought to her self... sighing deeply. "But who am I kidding?"

"Sakura is something truly wonderful. An girl gifted with such great power, and yet managing to remain so humble... so graceful... so beautiful..." Tomoyo paused still deep in thought letting out a deep sigh, looking up in the sky. "But... I'm nothing like that..."

Tomoyo frowned a bit, still pondering, her mind riddled with self doubt "I'm plain... My grades are slipping... I'll probably going fail gym this term... I need to lose some weight..." 

"Sakura's the best friend I ever had... the best friend anyone could have and... I drove her crazy with all the videos and costumes... trying to make her out to be some kind superhero when she just wanted to be normal. And now here I am getting her in trouble. She must hate me..." Running a hand through her black, with just a tinge of lavender hair, the girl's path of thought was suddenly interrupted by a the "snickt" sound of a switchblade knife. Startled, the teen looked up to see the 6'5" lunatic, that Sakura had oh so soundly defeated earlier. A pair of angry brown eyes staring down into hers.

END OF CHAPTER 1

[The camera suddenly cuts a gray screen with the words "Cardcaptor Sakura" written in yellow letters across the top, the word "MIRAI" stamped just above it in bold-face red letters. An Animetal-esc hard-rock cover of the chorus from "Fruits Candy" can be heard. In the center of the screen is the familiar image of the pink reverse side of a Sakura Card. Without warning the Sakura card suddenly spins around very rapidly before stopping to reveal an image of Sakura wearing a black "Malice Mizer" hooded sweatshirt and a matching pair of black denim jeans. She is smiling confidently, her hand raised into the air giving a peace/victory sign with her fingers. Cut commercials.]


End file.
